Hey Wayne!

I actually drove the insert out of two carbs. The first time, I heated up the carb body, and used a rubber mallet to hit the threaded end. The threads were not damaged at all. The body of my carb is worn out in the area of the jam bolt, so I wasn't worried about damaging the body. I didn't heat the body, I just hit it with the mallet a couple times. It came out with no damage. No punch is needed.

One possible fix for the alignment issue, would be to put a fiber washer on the inside of the carb, around the seat of the brass insert, as well as the one on the outside. It would move the brass insert out just enough, and it wouldn't allow the over tightening of the needle valve barrel to pull the brass insert in too far.

It is possible that www.smallparts.com may have these washers, I have not looked yet.

By the way, I use the lighter fluid too, works great!

Waco Driver:

I have heard the leaky bearing theory before. I wish I could quote some sources, but I'm afraid I don't remember the exact details or where I read this information[sm=surprised.gif]. It may have even been on RCU. Oil leaking through the front bearing offers lubrication. The way the two stroke engine is ported, some leakage is necessary for proper fuel flow. I heard of someone with, either a GMS .25 or .32 who didn't want the fuel leaking from the front, so they replaced it with a sealed bearing. The engine no longer had the power or RPM it once had. Surprisingly, Mecoa replaced the engine, in spite of the modification. I am counting on my memory here, and I am missing the details, but the leak is not as much of a factor as it may seem. I will say, that the fuel leaking from the front of mine is hardly noticeable. I remember seeing it when I had it on the break-in stand, but not since being in the nose of my SE. As I have mentioned before, my engine is on its 5th year and is still going strong.

Andy